Fuze safety mechanism

ABSTRACT

An improved munition fuze having a fuze body, primer means within the fuze body, stroker plate means rotatably mounted on the fuze body and adapted to detonate the primer means, and safety release clip means adapted to engage the stroker plate means to arm the fuze and permit the munition to be shipped, stored, and carried with the fuze in the unarmed state.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Stanley M. White North East; Charles W. Becker, Plrkville, both oi, Md. 2| 1 Appl. No. 779,336 [22] Filed Nov. 27, I968 [45] Patented Sept. 7, I971 [73] Assignee The United States of America II npresentedbytheSecretaryoltbeArmy [54] FUZE SAFETY MECHANISM 12 Claims, 10 Drawing Fig.

52 us. Cl 102/64 F42b 27/02 Field of Search 102/64, 65,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,203,640 6/1940 Hines et al. l02/64 X 2,646,750 7/1953 Diels 102/64 X 3,434,42l 3/ l969 Berlin et a1. 102/64 3,498,223 3/ I 970 Andersson et a]. l02/64 Primary Examiner-Verlin R. Pendergrass Attorneys-Harry M. Saragovitz, Edward J. Kelly, Herbert Ber] and Bernard J. Ohlendorf ABSTRACT: An improved munition fuze having a fuze body, primer means within the fuze body, stroker plate means rotatably mounted on the fume body and adapted to detonate the primer means, and safety release clip means adapted to engage the stroker plate means to arm the fuze and permit the munition to be shipped, stored, and carried with the fuze in the unarmed state.

PATENTEDSEP nan 3.603257 Fig] PRIOR ART INVENTORS Stanley M. White FUZE SAFETY MECHANISM DEDICATORY CLAUSE The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Govemmentfor governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

Our invention relates to an improved fuze for lachrymating agent, smoke, fragmentation and incendiary composition grenades, smoke and lachrymating agent pots, and similar munitions.

Prior art grenade fuzes present a safety hazard in that they are shipped and carried by personnel in the armed state, and accidental removal of a safety pin causes premature grenade detonation. The need for a grenade fuze which was safe until desired to activate led to the conception and reduction to practice of our improved fuze which is always in the unarmed state until desired to be activated and cannot be prematurely activated.

A principal object of our invention is to provide a munition fuze which is always in the unarmed state until activated.

Another object of our invention is to provide a munition fuze which is always in the unarmed state until activated and for which the magnitude of force required to activate is known. I

A further object of our invention is to provide a munition fuze which is always in the unarmed state until activated and for which the magnitude of force required to activate is known; the fuze being capable of functioning at a distance or when dropped from an aircraft.

Other objects will be obvious from or will appear in the specification hereinafter set forth.

FIG. 1 is a view of the prior art fuze wherein the striker plate is always in the armed position prior to activation.

FIG. 2 is a view of one embodiment of our improved fuze with the safety pin removed and in the position of being armed; this embodiment being designed to have the entire striker assembly easily removed for reuse after arming the fuze.

FIG. 3 is a view of the striker plate, striker plate hinge pin, and striker plate spring for our improved fuze; the same structures having been used in the prior art device.

FIG. 4 is a view of the safety release clip for our improved fuze shown in FIG. 2. I

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of our improved fuze in the unarmed state.

FIG. 6 is a view of another embodiment of our improved fuze; this embodiment designed to have the safety release clip fixedly mounted on a hinge pin.

FIG. 7 is a view of the safety release clip for our improved fuze shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a view showing our improved fuze mounted in a munition case with the cover removed.

FIG. 9 is a view of another embodiment of our improved fuze; this embodiment having a safety latch.

FIG 10 is a view of the safety release clip and safety latch for our improved fuze shown in FIG. 9.

Our invention and FIGS. 1 to 9 will now be described in detail as follows.

The prior art devices, such as shown in FIG. 1, were assembled in the armed state; namely, striker plate] was held in the armed position by latch 2 secured by safety pin 5 to fuze body 7 and under spring tension produced by spring 3. When it was desired to activate the prior art fuze, safety pin 5 was removed bymeans of a pull ring, such as ring 6 shown in FIG. 2 but not shown in FIG. 1 for the purpose of clarity, fixedly attached to safety pin 5. Removal of safety pin 5 permits striker plate 1 to lift latch 2 and rotate in a counterclockwise direction by means of the spring tension, to detonate primer 4, and to activate the fuze. An inherent problem with the prior art fuze was the premature firing of munitions having the fuze mounted therein while being shipped or carried by personnel through the accidental pulling of the safety pin 5 when ring 6 9 being located as shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 7, and 10, and the striker plate 1 and spring 3 mounted in fuze body 7 by inserting hinge pin 10 through holes 11 mated with corresponding holes in the fuze body 7, not shown in the drawing, as in the prior art fuze as shown in FIG. 1; spring 3 having end 12 mounted on top of striker plate 1 and end 13 resting against fuze body 7, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Safety release clip 8 having pull ring 6 fixedly mounted thereon through loop 16, as

shown in FIGS. 4, 7, and 10 and 2, 6, and 9 is then mounted in fuze body 7 over striker plate 1 either by means of projections 14 located at the fulcrum point on the release clip trailing edge, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, or hinge pin 15 through holes 17 which mate with the hole in fuze body 7; fuze body holes mating with holes 17 being in the same location as safety pin 5 hole in the prior art device, as shown in FIG. 1. Release clip 8 and striker plate 1 are then rotated clockwise to the degree of rotation necessary for tip 18 of striker plate 1, as shown in FIG. 3, to be engaged by hooked projections 19 of release clip 8; the dimensions of release clip 8 and striker plate 1 being such as to permit tip 18 of striker plate 1 to swing clear of projections 19 of release clip 8 in the approximately vertical position but to permit tip 18 to be engaged by projections 19 when the position of striker plate 1 and release clip 8 is slightly less than vertical. After tip 18 is engaged by projections 19, striker plate 1 and release clip 8 are gently rotated counterclockwise until tip 18 rests on primer 4; the counterclockwise rotation to be in such fashion as to avoid detonation of primer 4. After tip 18 connects primer 4, safety pin 5 having pull ring 6 fixedly mounted in loop 20, as shown in FIG. 2, is inserted in release clip 8 holes 21, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10, which mate with fuze body 7 holes 22, as shown in FIGS. 2, 6, and 9. A secondary safety precaution may be provided in the form of a female latch member 23 rotatably mounted on the leading edge of safety release 8 to engage male latch member 24 integral with fuze body 7 leading edge as shown in FIGS. 9 and It). After assembly as described above, our munition can be mounted in a munition container 25 having cover 26, as shown in FIG. 8, in any conventional manner such as by thread means, swagging, etc., thread means 27 being shown in the drawing. A particular advantage of our improved fuze is that existing prior art fuzes can be utilized by simply providing safety release clip 8 and drilling holes 22 in fuze body 7.

It is obvious that other modifications can be made of our invention, and we desire to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An improved fuze for mounting in munitions having a fuze body, primer means within said fuze body, striker plate means rotatably mounted on said fuze body and adapted to detonate said primer means; the improvement in combination therewith being a safety release clip rotatably mounted on said fuze body and adapted to engage said striker plate, the safety release clip engaging and maintaining the striker plate in an unarmed position until anned for detonation.

2. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein said release clip engages said striker plate by means of a pair of hooks integral with one end of the release clip. 1

3. The improved fuze of claim 2 wherein said striker plate and said release clip are of predetermined dimensions adapted to permit the striker plate to swing free of the release clip in the approximate vertical position but to permit the release clip to engage the striker plate at slightly less than a vertical position. I

4. The improved fuze of claim l-wherein said release clip is rotatably mounted by pivot means located at the release clip fulcrum point.

9. The improved fuze of claim 8 wherein a female latch member is rotatably mounted on the safety release clip leading edge, said female latch member being adapted to engage said male latch member.

10. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein a pull ring is fixedly mounted on the safety release clip. v M

11. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein said fuze body is fixedly mounted within a munition.

12. The improved fuze of claim 11 wherein the fuze body is fixedly mounted by thread means. 

1. An improved fuze for mounting in munitions having a fuze body, primer means within Said fuze body, striker plate means rotatably mounted on said fuze body and adapted to detonate said primer means; the improvement in combination therewith being a safety release clip rotatably mounted on said fuze body and adapted to engage said striker plate, the safety release clip engaging and maintaining the striker plate in an unarmed position until armed for detonation.
 2. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein said release clip engages said striker plate by means of a pair of hooks integral with one end of the release clip.
 3. The improved fuze of claim 2 wherein said striker plate and said release clip are of predetermined dimensions adapted to permit the striker plate to swing free of the release clip in the approximate vertical position but to permit the release clip to engage the striker plate at slightly less than a vertical position.
 4. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein said release clip is rotatably mounted by pivot means located at the release clip fulcrum point.
 5. The improved fuze of claim 4 wherein the pivot means is a pair of right angle projections integral with the release clip trailing edge.
 6. The improved fuze of claim 4 wherein the pivot means is a hinge pin.
 7. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein a safety pin engages the release clip and fuze body to avoid arming said fuze.
 8. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein a male latch member is integral with the fuze body leading edge, said male latch member being adapted to engage a female latch member.
 9. The improved fuze of claim 8 wherein a female latch member is rotatably mounted on the safety release clip leading edge, said female latch member being adapted to engage said male latch member.
 10. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein a pull ring is fixedly mounted on the safety release clip.
 11. The improved fuze of claim 1 wherein said fuze body is fixedly mounted within a munition.
 12. The improved fuze of claim 11 wherein the fuze body is fixedly mounted by thread means. 